Fangirling, Doctor Who and SCD

[sorcyress]

So, last nights was large amounts of excellence, which is good. Especially because, after dancing, I wound up watching the 2007 Christmas Special with Magus.

Gleeeeeeeeeeeee, Tenney.¹

I mean, ignoring the fact that David Tennant is made of sex and more sex and a little bit quite a lot of geek and specs! and just enough awkwardness to make me want to wrap around him in a hug and just enough badass to make me want to strip down and have immediate sex with him. Uhm. >.> Not that I said that aloud or anything.

But yeah, Christmas Special was very good at showing off all of that. Also, HOLY SHIT TUXEDO AND BLACK CHUCKS. Seriously, the only way that could've been *any* sexier was if he was wearing tails.

Butyeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't actually have any real comments on the storyline other than "why does everyone always die, damnit" And I kinda want Astrids dress. Oh, and "Information: You are all going to die" may just be the Greatest Line Ever, besides "Take me to your leader. I always wanted to say that!"

And Mr. Copper is adorable. He will use his million to buy a pony, because he deserves one. And a house with a garden and a door. And a kitchen. With windows. And lasersglazing.

Souhyeah. I'm sure I'll figure out an actual opinion on it sometime later (Ohyeah, also, Midshipman Frame = WIN AND STOIC AND BADASS!) but for now, I'm just *execeptionally* pleased to have another dose of Tenney in my brainspace. *bounces!*

[/fangirl]

***

As for other stuff..uhm...dancing! Dancing good. Dancing quite good, and I'm currently starting to hover on that edge between beginner and not.

Also, borking up the easiest dance² on the program is...annoying. (Seriously, 1Lady turns and does skip change of step down the ladies side of the dance, 1Man follows, past third couple, 1L dances up outside the mens side of the dance, 1M dances up the middle, they end in their partner's position, set, repeat with 1L chasing 1M. Then some other stuff, like dancing down and up the line, and pousseting (which I hate), but still. Not hard.)

It's just frigging skipping. In a line. How does one dick it up, you might ask? I don't even *begin* to know. But I did. And then I decided that I needed to go pound my head against a wall, and probably would have if I hadn't gone off to be confused by the I&A dance. Which, once I actually figured out what was going on, I was not heinous at.

On the plus side of everything, we ended with 'Australian Ladies'³ which may, in fact, be the greatest dance known to mankind. Seriously, it's deceptively easy, once you get the hang of it, and looks *awesome*. And, if done right, you should be panting by the end of it, which is honestly kinda a plus for me (I *like* quick dances.)

We didn't do any dances that included an allemande last night, though⁶. Well, one really can't have everything, now can they?

After proper dancing comes waltzing, which is loverly, and I got to practise my cross-step waltz, which is overly flowey and beautiful. After the music ended, Magus taught me how to do a redowa⁴ waltz which is entirely too bouncy and a little bit tricky. Clearly I shall have to practise it or something. (Change step change, change step change, change step hop, fall over, swear, GOTO 10⁵)

***

....Dear lord, I am a dork. Although, as dorkiness goes, I think that being a vintage dance dork is one of the cooler variations.

~Sor
MOOP!

1: Tenney = David Tennant as the tenth doctor. I'm not entirely sure why I use this nickname quite as often as I do, but it works. Another good nickname is 'teninch' which not so many people get.

2: 'Flowers of Edinburgh', for my own reference.

3: For my own reference:

THE AUSTRALIAN LADIES (R8x32)
1- 8: 1s cross, cast down to 3rd place & 3s+1s dance RH across.
9-16: 1s lead up to top, cross, cast to 2nd place & 2s+1s dance LHacross.
17-24: 2s & 3s set & cross RH as 1s cross RH & cast to right, 2s+3sset on sides & change places RH as 1s cross up/down centre& cast to right.
25-32: 3s & 2s set & cross RH as 1s cross RH & cast to right, 3s+2sset on sides & change places RH as 1s cross in centre & cast to places

(You can tell I found that on the interwobs somewhere because it's actually in proper dance terminology. For the layman, bars 17-32 basically consist of the 1s crossing by right hands and casting to the right four times, essentially just following a cloverleaf path, and the 2s and 3s setting and crossing by right hands with their partner, their fellow, their partner again, and their fellow again. (So 2L and 2M, 3L and 3M then 2L and 3L, 2M and 3M. Repeat once.))

4: It's actually somewhat embaressing how long it took me to figure out how to correctly spell that. Apparently typing 'styles of waltz vintage' into google will make it appear if you look hard enough, but this is secretly one of those word that any approximation of the spelling will not be close enough for google to correctly identify.

5: Yes, I realize that there's not actually a 10 to go to. It sounded better than 'start over'

6: ETA: Keira: Better?

Comments

[marcmagus]

*cough* In your description of Flowers of Edinburgh, you have the directions "down" and "up" reversed. Up is toward the top of the set, toward the music.

1-6: 1L casts off, dances down behind the Ls line, crosses below the 3s, dances up behind Ms line into 1Ms place. 1M follows her down, then comes up inside the set to finish in 1Ls place.
7-8: 1s set
...

I decided that the dance is quite fun . . . for the 1s. Simple enough that you can just do it, energetic enough that it encourages you to get silly with the lead down and up (out the door, snag some food, etc). Unfortunately, 2s get to stand around for 24 bars then pousette and 3s get to stand around for the whole dance.

(In Australian Ladies, I like that bars 17-32 are "The Australian Ladies Figure")

I think we had a good program last night, particularly if you're in the mood for lots of fast stuff with meanwhile figures.

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

...encourages you to get silly with the lead down and up (out the door, snag some food, etc)

But who would ever do such a thing? *looks innocently askance*

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

...

I don't trust your innocence in this case. I suspect that it, like cake, is a lie.

~Sor

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Fie! *goes and fixes*

And yeah, it's not a bad dance. I'm just really frustrated that I messed it up.

Granted, I'm *always* frustrated when I mess up dances. I have a deep streak of perfectionism in me, which means I tend to get somewhat subdued when I'm consistently messing up things that I feel I should know. (This comes out a lot when I'm driving, too.)

I'm just extra frustrated by this one, because it was A) easy and B) something we learned in the beginner class. Sigh.

~Sor

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

For redowa (accent on the -dow-, btw), think of change, stretch, change.

I once danced a redowa with vvalkyri in an otherwise empty Spanish Ballroom.

[marcmagus]

I learned it as change, reach, change, and that's what I chanted while I was showing it to kdsorceress. I don't know why she's internalized it as step, but we can work on getting that nice long low reach along the line of dance in better once she's internalized the basic pattern.

I've heard two different pronunciations from people I generally expect to know what they're talking about (['rE d@ w@] or [r@ 'd&u @] (ASCII-IPA), with expected slight variation in the vowels).

Do you happen to know of anything authoritative on the pronunciation? I haven't researched it independently.

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

You are correct, reach is the better memory tool.

And I got the pronunciation from Richard Powers, Patri Pugliese, and others in the vintage dance community.

As for my knowledge, you can ask kdsorceress. I also belong to a professional vintage dance troupe.

[marcmagus]

I really didn't intend to question that you know what you're talking about. I suppose if I did I would have said more or less the same thing, but in this case I was asking for references in the hope you might have them available, not as a 'clever' way of expressing doubt that you have any meaningful knowledge. I always prefer a source to, well, hearsay when I think there's some uncertainty.

(For reference: I'm hearing the other pronunciation frequently, although not exclusively, within CVD, I do not remember Patri being consistent in using the pronunciation you prefer when I heard him refer to it (although I didn't hear him do so often, and my memory could be suspect here), and I believe I have observed both Barbara and Antonia Pugliese using the first-syllable pronunciation. I have no clear memory of anybody else saying it. Net effect: in my experience, there seems to be some uncertainty, which could have many explanations.)

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

didn't look at the name. I know you have knowledge. am tired with passover prep.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Feh. Stretch/step are essentially the same thing. I take long steps. *grin*

In all seriousness, the stretch/step bit isn't the part I have trouble with. I keep getting thrown off by the changing feet, instead of just hopping.

Ooooooo. Sounds lovely!

~Sor

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

In kikki terms:

boing! stretch. boing! boing! stretch boing!

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

pousseting (which I hate)
Why do you hate the poussette? It's made of happy and bouncy and yay!

allemande's
*cringe* May the gods of grammar smite you for that one, my dear.

entirely too bouncy
Does such a thing exist?

Also, I completely did not realize that there was a fifth footnote at first.

[marcmagus]

pousseting (which I hate)
Why do you hate the poussette? It's made of happy and bouncy and yay!

At a guess, because it's a figure which takes a lot of practice to get comfortable with for many people, and which feels really awkward if you don't both know how to do it well. This may be a case of a combination of a lot of people only knowing it sloppily, and few people knowing how to actually teach it effectively.

entirely too bouncy
Does such a thing exist?

Yes. A "redowa" danced "leap, leap, leap" would be entirely too bouncy. ;)

I completely did not realize that there was a fifth footnote at first.

This is a wonderful sentence.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what you said mostly. I suspect part may be just only ever dancing it with people who are slightly awkward at it, but it always seems so rushed to me.

No, it just wouldn't be a redowa. It would be a...bounceowa. Or something.

~Sor

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

I don't hate it as much anymore. I think it's something complicated like I had to dance it before I ever learned it and it therefore throws me off.

...What's the correct grammar for it then? I'll go fix it, I do not want to be smited even though I deserve it.

Of course not!

*grins* Fifth footnote is not as important.

~Sor

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

Ah - ok. I don't even remember what it was like when I learned it. But I want to say my reaction was along the lines of "Yay! Bouncy!" Then again, that's my reaction to so many things...

I was objecting to the apostrophe. You had just intended a plural, yes?

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

It is better. I would have accepted allemandes, though. There was no need to restructure the sentence on my account.

[macaroniandtuna.livejournal.com]

Better yet, tuxedo and grayscale Chucks:



It's hard to see 'cause it's small and a large-group picture, but the Chucks are these (http://www.americanathletics.com/Image.aspx?URL=http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/43000168/images/4/1k879-4.jpg).

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

I maintain that the best line is the OTHER "I've always wanted to say that." line....

"Allons-y, Alonso!"

[harena.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who spoilers. I mean, granted, they're like four months old at this point, but there are possibly still some of you who haven't seen the Christmas Special yet or something.

And you were nearly not too far off... i only just got around to watching it a mere few days before the season premiere >.>

Also: i quite agree with the whole, "Why'd everyone hafta diiiiiiie???" thing. Mel, my eldest, was completely unsympathetic: "It's the whole point of the story!" and i'm all, "Meh." Stupid Titanic stories (of which i have never seen the movie, thankyouverymuch) *sulks*